Father, Son and War in Faulkner’s Barn Burning

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Father, Son and War in Faulkner’s Barn Burning

In Faulkner’s story “Barn Burning” a young boy must choose his fate to escape the burdens of his father’s malice. Throughout the story the protagonist, Snope’s son, is barely referred by anything other than he or boy. I think a major plot in this story is the coming of age for this young boy. As the story begins he is at his father’s trial for having a Negro burn another man’s barn down. The boy sympathetically defends his father saying, “Why should not a man who had not only seen the waste and extravagance of war, but who had in his blood an inherent voracious prodigality with material not his own, have burned everything in sight?” (P.8). This comment tries to imply that Abner is not acting out of his own rage but acting out from the ...

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